Surprise Guest Poster--THOUGHTFUL and REASONED Dissent

Cross posted from Miss Beth's Victory Dance here.



Ladies
and Gentlemen, this is a first for Miss Beth. I'm not known for
allowing dissent to my views in general--after all, this is my blog and
I'll rant as I like.

However, I have a very dear friend, well
educated, articulate (heckuva computer whiz as well) who is absolutely
true-blue American to the core. We do have occasional disagreements on
some issues, but nothing explosive because we are comfortable in our
disagreements and can conduct ourselves in an adult fashion, we can
have a rousing good discussion and learn from each other. To that end,
I am more than willing to give her "dissent time" and ask you to really
read what she has to say--this isn't just talking points, and she's not
a fringe lunatic. THIS is how different view points should be
presented--and hopefully learned from. Hopefully, too, my friend will
allow her dissent to be presented here regularly.

By the way,
did I mention she lived in Alaska for awhile, so she has some actual
"working knowledge" we (or at least I) don't have on the issue of Gov.
Palin? She has a better working knowledge of the actualities; unlike
most people who can claim to have lived in Alaska during that relevant
time, I know she actually did. She has the credibility, whereas people
in a comment thread lose that credibility simply from anonymity.

To that end, I present my friend, Sadie Adams.

September 2, 2008 - Tuesday Sarah Palin is the noose around McCain’s political neck: AKA Insult Me Some More ’08

I
am smack dab in the middle of the demographic of middle-class,
educated, independent-minded women that the Republicans (and Democrats)
currently seek to court. And in response to their mistaken impression
that the Hillary-loving masses have been slapped in the ass hard enough
by the Obama-gods that these intelligent though oft-times vocally rabid
voting women will about-face and turn their votes to the "dark side" in
response to Hill's failure to win the nomination, the Republican
"smarty-pants" have brought inexperienced, backwoods, Alaska Governor
Sarah Palin to the ticket to fight the conservative fight alongside our
infamous Arizona political maverick, John McCain? I, for one, am
insulted. A vice-presidential candidate has never been a "make it or
break it" deal for me, but the spit in the eye of what seems to be the
"spoonful of sugar" to help the stale old Republican political
"medicine go down", is utterly disgusting to me.

Now don't get
me wrong... I am not on the front lines of the Democratic Party's
political battle. I am not one to be counted among the flock of
Kool-aid drinkin' Obama lovin' sheep. Even as eloquently as he spoke
during his recent nomination acceptance speech at the DNC convention in
Denver, I will never vote for Barack Hussein Obama (AKA "God/Allah's
Answer to All Our Prayers"). His communist/socialistic tendencies are
all too reminiscent of the early rantings from our island
neighbor/dictator to the south, Fidel Castro, for my taste. Couple this
with Obama's rise from relative political and managerial Nowhere-land,
I can't stomach the idea of this radically liberal "poster boy for
change" leading the American people, like Moses from the Bible stories,
out of wandering from the desert of despair which has come to exist on
the social, moral, legal, and economic landscape of today's American
society. But Sarah Palin as our country's wingman to the president,
face of American women, ambassador to the world, leader of our
legislative branch?! Are you freakin' kidding me?!

Sarah Palin
is proclaimed to be a skilled moose hunter and avid ice-fisherwoman.
She is the high-school sweetheart wife to a "superstar" Alaskan
snow-mobiler and a loving mother of five children: ranging from an
adult son serving honorably in our military to a 4 month old newborn
afflicted with Down's Syndrome. I have to admit she isn't all that hard
on the eyes and I'll be damned if she doesn't look like she just walked
off the set having nabbed the role of some "Hot For Teacher" babe in an
80s rock music video. But does Sarah Palin's résumé really do well to
balance out the Republican argument against Obama's obvious lack of
solid and proven experience to qualify himself to lead our nation,
which has always been McCain's ringer retort?

Even Obama was
smart enough to go along with the DNC money-wielding politicos to pick
a VP candidate with experience. Joe Biden got his start in Washington
politics while Obama was probably still a pimple-popping, wave-surfing,
binge-drinking, pot-smoking preteen back in Hawaii (even if it does
scream "bullshit!" at his own "time for change" mantra). And so, the
RNC's response is what?! Our 70-something year-old straight-talking and
venerated war hero is paired up with the gun-toting beauty queen with
heart of gold and a redneck brood of kids to go with it. I'll bet the
National Enquirer is standing in the streets of the town of Wasilla (a
small town, east of Anchorage - population approximately 8500 – where,
as mayor, Palin "cut her teeth on the political polls" before becoming
governor) just drooling at the chance to pay a measly $10,000 to the
first toothless wonder in exchange for any viable yet juicy tidbit
about the virtually unknown Sarah "Annie Oakley" Palin.

Sarah
Palin, though seemingly a well-rounded and well-spoken "All American
Girl" from what little us "Lower 48-ers" know and have heard from her,
is NOT my idea of a viable and experienced running mate to ANY
candidate for president, regardless of party affiliation, nor should
she be slated to be considered the voice of the intelligent,
middle-class American woman.

I, too, lived in the Last Frontier
for a time myself. After driving over 4,000 miles of treacherous road
from my home in Arizona, I lived in Alaska long enough:
- to earn a
decent wage, making nearly double in one year than I had in the
previous year in Arizona doing the same job, and pay off some bills,
even despite the increased cost of living;
- to take out a fishing
pole and troll for salmon with my two daughters in a small boat along
the glacial silt-filled rivers and fjords, surrounded by majestic
snow-capped mountains;
- to wonder at the moose trolling around
among the residential neighborhoods and city streets in Alaska's larges
city (which swelled to a "whopping" 250,000 or so people during
mid-summer);
- to be cautious enough when venturing out exploring
into the vast forests and mountains to remember to bring along a
shotgun and plenty of ammunition (aware of the presence of hungry
bears);
- to endure (as a desert rat accustomed to 60-70 degree
Christmases) one of the harshest winters the city of Anchorage had seen
in years;
- to escape death just before Thanksgiving with only nine
staples to my scalp and a cracked kneecap, injured when my vehicle slid
backwards, downhill, about 100 yards, then rolled over and landed
upside down in a ditch in the icy, snow-filled mountainside;
- to
learn first-hand, working for a reputable law firm, about the ins and
outs of the oil industry (as much from the big oil perspective as from
the environmentalist's perspective) and fishing industry;
- and to
get a literal "bird's eye's view" of the landscape and throngs of
wolves, and caribou, and bears which outnumber humans so greatly in the
vast and great last frontier;

But none of this translates to
experience to stand toe-to-toe with political heads-of-state of foreign
governments and to preside over our legislature or to possibly step in
as Leader of the Free World and Commander-in-Chief of our military
(should any ill fate happen upon our elderly statesman McCain, while
possible serving as President), does it?

Picking Sarah Palin to
try and bolster the conservative agenda is political suicide for the
Republicans and for any chance that the so-called conservatives might
have had to keep Obama from "preaching his way into the White House"
with his socialist rhetoric, and letting the deep pockets of the
MoveOn-type Libs get a final stranglehold over our nation.

The
Dems are getting at what some people at first, undoubtedly, thought HAD
to be a joke when "The Mav" made the announcement on Friday of "his" VP
pick. The gossip train has been given all the fuel it needs to grind
it's way right over McCain's pasty and war-scarred back, right on into
the Metro station closest to Michelle Obama's freshly painted, pretty,
new WhiteBlack House.

I sat at work today, surrounded by the
jabbering of the liberal, elitist, cream-of-the-crop, well-educated and
highly overpaid lawyers that I work with (actually for, since we
"pee-ons" who actually do most of the work they take credit for are
truly not, nor ever will be, equal to them). These same persons who
sell their souls daily to represent big business all in the name of the
mighty dollar that they earn as a result, while piously preaching and
seething about their rich clients' injustices on the world and
"everyday, little man" behind their backs, were giddy and excited today
in their chatter about McCain and the RNC's choice of Sarah Palin for
the Republican VP running mate. And who can blame them for their
exuberance?

Palin has brought with her to the Republican stage:
- a political scandal of allegations of abuse of power while having only been Governor of Alaska since 2006;
-
a very, very, very short list of political "accomplishments" before her
current gubernatorial position, including beating out a Republican
"political giant" who had faced some scandal of his own and being the
mayor of a very small town;
- and a baby sadly afflicted with Down's
Syndrome, which might not be hers, but actually her grandchild, born
from her 17-year-old daughter, now pregnant (again?) out of wedlock.

I
am sure the Enquirer will find something more for the Dems to complete
their "wet dream" with. Regardless of what truth any of the produced
gossip might actually bear, I cannot argue with the "oh-My-GOSH" truth
of the fact that Sarah Palin has got to be the most ridiculous choice
that the Republicans could have pushed McCain to endorse. Mitt Romney
with his painted face, plastered hair and strict Mormon conservative
base would have at least helped to lock in the conservative vote,
regardless of any of the differences between the former presidential
hopeful and his previous rival, now nominated candidate/victor, John
McCain. But a "Beauty and the Beast" ticket? What the hell is the RNC
thinking?

As a woman, I am insulted. I cannot and will not
stupidly chant the party's spin on this one. I am an independent,
intelligent and VOTING woman. I vote in every election cycle, even when
there isn't a presidential position at stake. I take my daughters to
stand in line at the polls while I wait, sometimes hours, to make my
mark and complete my civic duty. I try to teach them of the importance
of having a vote and in taking a stance on issues important to our
everyday lives and putting people into office to represent the common
good. But in thinking that Sarah Palin is the answer to bring in the
"minority" woman's vote they are attempting to court in the wake of
Hillary's sunken hopes for the first woman to steer the American ship
from the helms of the Oval Office (well, from behind, not below the
desk, anyhow) – the Republicans have got their read on American women
all wrong this time, baby! They should re-draw the Republican Party's
mascot elephant's ass with a big ole' Democratic Donkey hoof-print on
it now. Shit! I'd even give Monica Lewinsky credit for more experience
than I would Sarah Palin. (But Ms. Altoids wears blue, and not red, so
I guess she couldn't have made it to the Republican short list, could
she?)

Sarah Palin should gracefully bow out now while the
"gettin' is good", and none of us would fault her for it. Sad as it is
to say it, the rigors of a campaign trail, as they choke on Obama's
dust in the polls and as the Obama lovin' media rips her and her
family's still somewhat good name to shreds, will prove to be too much
for the Alaska girl and her December romance hero in the end. Mrs.
Palin needs to go home and earn her stripes before this intelligent,
All American girl will even think to stand in line and consider her
worthy of the No. 2 spot in my nation's government. She should go home
and take care of that sweet baby who is going to be challenged enough
in his lifetime, without the added difficulty of missing some very
crucial bonding time early on, and go encourage that 17-year-old
daughter to put down the fishing pole, and press forward, baby in tow,
to complete a college education so that she can adequately support
herself and unborn child in the future, head held high. Mrs. Palin, go
sit down in the Governor's mansion and listen to your state's workers
and citizens to learn about the challenges of governing from all
angles, from top to bottom.

A pretty face and some pretty
rhetoric, even if touted and paraded by the likes of Hannity and Rush,
will not stupify this independent woman into "plugging my nose and
voting McCain". I'll not be placing my vote for President this year -
Not if I have the choice of Old Man McCain and his lovely assistant,
What's Her Name versus Barack Hussein Obama and his unproud, American
wife and white-haired friend Joe, who has a sad case of verbal diarrhea
from time to time. I'd rather eat glacial silt for breakfast. I’ll let
the dogs just fight this one out without me this time.

Now…
where's my TiVo remote? That 30-second fast forward button might be
just enough to bypass those "I'm Dodo Bird, and I approve this message"
ads and get to those really cool Geico gecko and caveman commercials
and the next season’s episodes of Heroes to begin. That should keep the
bile down and me entertained at least until it's time for the World
Series, when I can start ranting again about overpaid, steroid-junkie
athletes again.